Not Even As A Metaphor

Dear Editor:

Mr. Culotta has lately been on fairly good behavior regarding over the top political discourse. In his last column, he jumped the shark, again. To say that America may have never existed if it had not been for Frank Capra is beyond defense, even as a metaphor.

Our founding fathers did what they did regardless of the work of a sentimental and populist filmmaker, not withstanding his admitted talent. To complain that our moral leaders are concerned with morality and religious rights is rather like complaining about fish living in water. It’s what they are and what they do. Mr. Culotta’s social justice agenda, surely well intentioned, is focused on the “society that is increasingly inequitable” Inequity is not injustice. When the major health problem for the “poor” is obesity, when the average money spent on educating a “poor” child in NYC public schools greatly exceeds the amount of money spent on a private parochial education, when “poor” children own cell phones, flat screen TVs, computers and the ever present computer games, inequity is not causing hardships. I own a car; should I be resentful of my neighbor’s Mercedes?

If I have three pairs of shoes, should I envy the man who has 20? What right does one person with a roof over his head, food on his table, with free education for his children and public health service (in NYC) have to claim that another man’s wealth harms him? Disclaimer: I am not wealthy, or even close.